Article: Hockey league body checks rival; plans slide along to bring the 'game on ice' to Central Arkansas. (Western Professional Hockey League)

A year before the first puck hits ice for a professional hockey game in Arkansas, the face-off has started.

The move to sign a minor league hockey franchise to use Barton Coliseum is considered by some to be a power play designed to get the jump on community leaders who have tied the success of Alltel Arena to a professional hockey franchise.

Jim Pledger, executive vice president and general manager of the Arkansas Livestock Show Association Inc., which runs the coliseum and state fairgrounds, says his decision to give the go-ahead to a team from the Western Professional Hockey League is smart business, not malice.

Pulaski County Judge EG. "Buddy" ...

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